


Dark Calling

by tatersalad5001



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst, Background Relationships, Darkness, Gen, Mild Language, Multi, Spoilers for 5DS Dark Signer Arc, Spoilers for like all of GX while we're at it, Yami no Game | Shadow Game, background roman godwin too i guess, background yusei. he's mentioned don't worry, it's suffering time kiddos!, naughty darkness boys get sent to the nazca wiggler to atone for their sins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-05 12:49:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14618955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatersalad5001/pseuds/tatersalad5001
Summary: Yes, Rex Goodwin knew the identities of the other four Signers. All participants of the tournament had been possible candidates. But, of course, there had been participants in the tournament that weren't Signers. For some of these candidates, the reveal (or lack thereof) had been disappointing. There had been some truly...interesting duelists in the mix. Duelists with diverse strategies that would have been a huge asset to the Signers now, but would be easy enough to crush when the time came.Among the candidates had been a certain Jaden Yuki, who had turned out not to be a Signer in the end. It was somewhat of a relief, at least for a time. The boy was a formidable duelist, and had he been a Signer, he may not have been so easily taken down. But the relief wasn't meant to last.It appeared that Jaden was a friend of one of the actual Signers. He now possessed information that should only be known to the Signers, and he seemed intent on acting upon it. He knew about the Dark Signers. He was trying to stop them, before the Signers could even take action. And he was becoming a bigger and bigger thorn in Goodwin's side.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for stopping by! If you're new to my shenanigans, some of this might be a bit confusing so let me explain something real quick. This is actually an alternate universe of an extremely indulgent alternate universe I've been writing on and off (which starts with the fic 'Return from the Different Dimension'). You don't have to read it all if you don't want to, but here's the basics of what you'll need to know: This is post-GX and, in this AU, during the Dark Signer Arc of 5DS. GX and 5DS have been squished a little closer together in time. Jaden, Jesse, and Chazz share an apartment in Domino City. Leo and Luna are somewhat distant relatives of Jesse's, and his parents have him babysit them sometimes (a lot), so they've become pretty close, and since Jaden and Chazz end up spending a lot of time with the twins, the same applies for them. They know about Luna's ability to enter the duel monster spirit world, and Jaden took Luna to visit Ancient Fairy Dragon once. Aaaand that's about it. Enjoy!

_Well, this was as good a time as any to step in. Jaden took a step forward, waving. "Hey! You're the dragon, right?" He could hear Yubel snark in his mind,_ It's painfully obvious that this is Ancient Fairy Dragon _. "I've got a bone to pick with you. Or, uh, maybe a scale?"_

_Ancient Fairy Dragon turned to look him in the eye as she measured him up. She bristled. "How did a creature of darkness get here?"_

_"Aw, come on. You know as well as I do that I'm not part of the bad kind of darkness. Sort of like how you're not a spirit of the bad kind of light." Ancient Fairy Dragon gave no answer. Definitely the wrong response. He swallowed and held his hands up in surrender. "Or maybe not?" he backpedaled. "I promise, I'm not here to hurt anyone. I helped Luna get back here. I just wanna talk, man, I swear."_

_"Then we'll talk," Ancient Fairy Dragon decided. "And after that, it may be best if you leave. No matter what you say, I can't risk this world falling into darkness. No matter how...friendly the darkness may pretend to be."_

_Jaden nodded. "Fair, fair."_

* * *

The Fortune Cup was over. Rex Goodwin had all the pieces of the pieces that he needed.

The true purpose of the tournament had been realized: Goodwin had wanted to learn the identities of the four other Signers chosen by the Crimson Dragon. Everyone invited to the tournament had been a possible candidate; he learned their strategies, their cards, saw their motivations and what made them who they were now. Everything was to his advantage. It was that much easier to convince them he was completely on his side. To trust him. He gave out just enough truth to earn that trust, but held back enough to keep the upper hand.

Yes, he knew the identities of the other four Signers. All participants of the tournament had been possible candidates. But, of course, there had been participants in the tournament that weren't Signers. For some of these candidates, the reveal (or lack thereof) had been disappointing. There had been some truly...interesting duelists in the mix. Duelists with diverse strategies that would have been a huge asset to the Signers now, but would be easy enough to crush when the time came.

Among the candidates had been a certain Jaden Yuki, who had turned out not to be a Signer in the end. It was somewhat of a relief, at least for a time. The boy was a formidable duelist, and had he been a Signer, he may not have been so easily taken down. But the relief wasn't meant to last.

It appeared that Jaden was a friend of one of the actual Signers. He now possessed information that should only be known to the Signers, and he seemed intent on acting upon it. He knew about the Dark Signers. He was trying to stop them, before the Signers could even take action. And he was becoming a bigger and bigger thorn in Goodwin's side.

"Lazar." Goodwin stood up, folding his arms behind his back. "I will be out for the rest of the day. I have business to attend to."

Perhaps it was time for Jaden Yuki to be stopped.

* * *

Jaden Yuki was having a hell of a time getting his game on.

It was just...look, it's hard to get your game on in a situation like this. You know, when you're dueling a guy with a glowing spider mark on his arm, when you're surrounded by spooky purple fire, when your opponent's using 'Dark Synchro Monsters', whatever those are, and when dueling becomes a life-or-death situation. Jaden had had enough of dueling for his life long ago, back in school. He'd never wanted to be in that situation again, but against all odds, here he was again.

Though, maybe it wasn't all that surprising that he was doing this again. Jaden tended to attract danger like the plague. There was a reason he spent so much time alone.

He'd been hoping to take down a Dark Signer, but...Jaden had a feeling this duelist wasn't one of them. Something just didn't feel right. It was a shame; Leo and Luna were just kids, they were too young to get mixed up in all of this Signer business. If Jaden could at least take out one Dark Signer himself, then the twins would be that much safer.

But that was only if he could take down this Dark Faker first.

As Jaden stared up at his opponent's monster, he had the sinking feeling that this would be a tough win to pull off. This Dark Synchro Monster was already giving him a lot of trouble. He couldn't use any cards to counter its attacks, and if he managed to destroy it, his opponent could just use its effect to resurrect it. He'd need a miracle to win this duel, and while Jaden had come out of worse situations on top, he was still nervous.

It all depended on this next draw.

There wasn't any point in drawing this out. Jaden drew his next card and glanced at it as he added it to his hand.

Yubel hummed with approval, and he smiled. Maybe with this, he stood a chance after all.

"Jay!" Jaden whipped his head around to see Jesse and Chazz running towards him. He swore under his breath. Of course they came looking for him. He should've expected it, but he'd hoped that they wouldn't, at least not until the duel was over.

"Stay back!" Jaden warned them. Chazz rose an eyebrow, as if to say _Thanks for that, I was definitely going to touch the spooky purple fire_. "You shouldn't have come here, it's too dangerous!"

"You should've learned by now to stop trying to do everything on your own, slacker!" Chazz called back. "We want to help, you know!"

"He's right," Jesse added. "But you got this, Jay! I know you can win this!" He held his arm up so that Jaden could see him giving him a thumbs up.

Jaden's opponent guffawed. "Well, isn't this interesting! Your friends are here to help. Not that it'll do you much good, but maybe it can help me out!"

"What do you mean?" Jaden demanded.

"This soul cannot be sacrificed if I lose this Shadow Duel," his opponent answered. "But the shadows won't be happy without the feast they desire. Perhaps we can make other arrangements, and the shadows can feed on other souls here? Or they could even take the soul of that Signer you cherish..."

Jaden grit his teeth, his grip on the cards in his hand tightening. Damn it. He'd made this mistake before, hadn't he? Back in Dark World, he'd sacrificed his friends for the sake of winning the duel. For saving himself so he could find someone else. Now, it seemed the universe was testing him once again. If he won this duel, he could go on to fight the Dark Signers himself. But he knew where that left Chazz and Jesse, and Leo and Luna.

"Your cheerleader squad can't help you now," his opponent taunted. "Make your move; we both know it'll be your last."

Jaden glared at him with a scowl. His opponent was right, they both knew it. When would his friends learn to stop believing so blindly in his abilities? There was no loophole in this. He came here alone for a reason. At least when he was dueling alone, he could make sure his friends were safe.

He was no fool. He'd made the wrong choice before, but not this time. He'd learned from his mistakes. Apparently his decision was visible on his face-- his opponent's grin grew wider. Shadow Duels, why did it always have to be Shadow Duels?

He knew it was coming. But still, as his life points reached zero, and his life with it, he gasped. Jaden fell to his knees. The duel was over.

Jaden didn't hear his friends screaming for him. Jaden didn't hear his opponent's jeering. All he saw were the shadows surrounding him. The shadows were unbiased; they remained merciless even towards The Supreme King. They were all he could see, all he could hear.

No. It couldn't end here.

Why not?

He still had so much to do. He had to stop the Dark Signers. Keep his friends safe, the twins safe, the world safe. Even if it meant putting himself in harm's way over and over. He had to keep going, keep fighting. He had to...

He had to...

He had to maintain balance. He had to fight back against the Light. He had to protect the Darkness. Ever since the Fortune Cup, there'd been so much light in Domino City. Far too much light in Domino City. He had to f I g h t b a c k a g a i n s t t h e L I g h t . . .

And then, everything faded, and all Jaden knew was darkness.

* * *

 

Something deep inside of him recognized this was wrong. Something inside of him knew this wasn't right, didn't want this at all. Whatever part it was, he couldn't tell, but it refused to sit still. It sent out a friend, knowing who exactly could set this right. And, unable to do anything else, it waited.

* * *

 

Balance.

Balance between the Darkness and the Light.

This was Jaden's main concern as his powers opened a temporary portal between dimensions.

Of course this was his focus. This was his purpose, after all: maintaining balance. For far too long, Light had been far too bright in this world. Especially now, with that wretched Crimson Dragon was showing itself. Everywhere Jaden looked, Domino City's light was blinding. There was no balance, no darkness to counteract it, and that simply couldn't stand. Jaden would have to take matters into his own hands. His own darkness was more than enough to match the Light's hold on this city.

For now, the best course of action was to handicap the Crimson Dragon's servants. The Crimson Dragon itself was illusive, only appearing in this world for brief periods of time, and Jaden had no interest in tracking it down himself. That would be too much effort for too little reward. Its dragon servants, however, remained in this world for longer, standing alongside their chosen Signers. Taking care of these dragons would be more productive. One in particular, Jaden knew, also lived in spirit form in its own designated dimension. She'd been taken down before, so taking her down again would be child's play. And with her spirit locked away, her chosen Signer would become useless. The Light would become that much weaker.

This course of action decided, Jaden smiled. It was time to let himself loose on this dimension.

Ancient Fairy Dragon recognized the source of this darkness. Immediately, she recognized the boy that followed Luna the last time she saw her. She let out a quiet growl. No creature of darkness could ever be trusted to keep their word. She saw this coming, but it hurt all the same. If only she'd been able to guide Luna to not trust this person.

Though, she had to relent, while she recognized the source of this darkness, something about it was off. Something about this boy was off. What had changed? There was something more malicious in this darkness that she hadn't sensed before. An actual intent to corrupt and harm that had been missing before, though the potential had always been there. Was the boy not himself, or had their earlier meeting been a really good act?

It didn't matter. It didn't justify this attack, not in her eyes. Her forest had already been in peril, was already decaying from Darkness' influence. With the forest in this state, Ancient Fairy Dragon as not at peak strength, and this darkness was overwhelming. No matter how much she struggled and fought back, she couldn't stop herself from being sealed away. She couldn't stop the corruption of her fellow monsters, or the destruction of the forest. She watched it all fall, unable to do anything.

_Please, Luna_ , she thought. _Please protect the forest._

Now, Jaden recognized, with one of the Crimson Dragon's servants out of the picture, Darkness and Light were on a more even playing field. Still, there was more to be done. This town's Light was still far too bright.

At some point, he made contact with the Spider. The Spider gave him a card, which he recognized as the dragon he'd sealed away. Since he'd been the one to imprison her, he was the only person who'd be able to make full use of this card. Ancient Fairy Dragon -- a Synchro monster. He shrugged. He knew of these Synchro monsters, but still didn't know how to use them himself, had no means to. Not that it mattered. His deck was perfectly capable as it was.

Balance.

Balance between Darkness and Light.

In order to maintain that balance, Jaden was more than ready to bring the Light to its knees.

* * *

When Jesse and Chazz realized Jaden was missing, they had followed after him as fast they could. They were aware of the situation with the Dark Signers, and they knew Jaden; where he'd gone was obvious. They should've kept a closer eye on him. Of course Jaden would've tried to take this situation on on his own.

It hadn't taken them all that long to find him. The purple, glowing flames made it obvious. But when they got there, the duel appeared to be nearing its end. They ignored Jaden's protests that they shouldn't have come. Even if they couldn't duel, they'd support him to the end. They couldn't hear anything the Dark Signer was saying, but it didn't matter. It'd been dumb of Jaden to try to do everything alone. But Jaden was an excellent duelist and always came through in the end. They knew he'd make it out on top.

So when Jaden fell to the ground, his life points depleting to zero, Jesse couldn't hold back the scream rising up in his throat. He wanted to move, but his body as frozen in place. Next to him, Chazz was immobile, silent. All he could do was stare. Neither of them wanted to believe the sight in front of them, but they couldn't deny it, either. They knew this was a Shadow Duel. And they had to accept Jaden lost.

If Jaden heard Jesse's scream, he didn't show it. Purple flames closed in on him, and in an instant, he was gone.

"JADEN!" Jesse called out, but he received no response.

Jaden Yuki was gone.

Jaden Yuki was dead.

The flames burned out into nothing. At some point, the Dark Signer left. Soon, after an eternity, Jesse and Chazz were alone, staring at an empty spot that wouldn't be filled again anytime soon. It couldn't be.

Jaden Yuki was gone.

It was hard to accept, impossible to accept, but eventually, they had to. Eventually, they had to face reality. Jaden was gone, but the fight wasn't over. The Dark Signers were still out there, and the Signers were, too. Jesse and Chazz both knew the Signers, at least somewhat; Luna was a relative of Jesse's, and they'd grown rather close to her and her brother recently. Her fight was their fight, too, and they couldn't just stand idle while Luna and her friends risked their lives. Neither could Jaden. The twins...they were going to be devastated by this news.

Jesse felt hollow as they returned to homebase. His eyes were probably red, but if they were, Chazz didn't bring attention to it, nor did anyone else. Chazz himself was still extremely silent, seemingly incapable of saying anything at all at the moment. Jesse couldn't blame him. He could feel all kinds of emotions swelling up in him, yet at the same time, it was just empty. It was too soon. He still couldn't process whatever had just happened.

He wouldn't get the chance for awhile. There wasn't time. When the Dark Signers were all defeated, there would be time to grieve, but for now, there was work to be done.

He held Luna close as she sobbed into his chest, her new friend Yusei doing the same for Leo nearby. They were too young for this. They shouldn't have to deal with something like this. No one should.

Yet time marched on, and the Dark Signers made their presence more and more known. They had to be dealt with, and there was no time to waste. The Signers team made their plan; they each had a tower they needed to go to, in order to shut down the Ener-D reactors. Each of the Signer dragons was associated with a specific tower, so they'd split up to make their move. (Luna was the only Signer missing her dragon. It was in the posession of the Dark Signers, and they were sure they'd be able to recover Ancient Fairy Dragon along the way). Jesse and Chazz insisted on accompanying the twins, and no one objected. They couldn't enact their plan now, but soon. Soon.

Jesse and Chazz walked home together, hand firmly in hand, silently reminding themselves that they still had each other. They weren't alone. As long as they had each other...

The train of thought in Jesse's mind was interrupted. Giant glowing lines appeared in the ground below them, and stretched out far. As the lights began to break through the ground's surface, Jesse instinctively jumped back, away from them. Chazz's hand was still in his, and he tried to pull Chazz with him. But he was a second too late. Suddenly, his hand was closed around empty air. The person who'd been walking alongside him moments ago was gone. Chazz was gone. Chazz and Jaden were both gone, they were both--

“Chazz,” Jesse whispered, as if saying his name would bring him back. But, of course, he remained alone. He looked bitterly down at the glowing light spilling out of the ground.

_The Warrior_ , he thought, though he had no idea where the thought had come from. A title, perhaps, belonging to whatever the source of these lights was. It’s been so fast that he hadn’t even seen it happen, Chazz had been there one second and was gone the next. Whatever this…Warrior was supposed to be, it had taken Chazz from him, and possibly it’d been the Dark Signer that took away Jaden, too. It was like everyone was being picked off, one by one, and he didn’t know whether to scream or cry. He didn’t have the energy for either anymore.

For the briefest, cruel second, he was reminded of Dark World, but he shook off the memory. It wasn’t his fault this time. There was no time to dwell on it now.

Something on Jesse’s shoulder purred. He reached up and rubbed under Ruby’s chin. With Ruby’s help, he made his way home.

His stomach growled. They’d been planning on a late dinner: leftover fried shrimp.

The thought made him feel sick. He fought against the tears springing to his eyes.

He tried to get some sleep instead, but it wasn’t meant to be. A few hours later, he was still awake, staring at the dark ceiling, hyperfocused on how quiet the apartment was. He turned on a radio at one point, but the noise was just as bad. Everything felt wrong. It wasn’t long before he shut the radio back off and gave up on sleep. Ruby guided him to Leo and Luna’s place instead.

* * *

Their time was running short. As hard as it was to keep going, they couldn’t wait anymore. The Dark Signers needed to be stopped now, the Signers had to make their move now.

At first, they hadn't been sure where they were going. Luna and Leo weren't sure of the way, and Jesse didn't trust himself to not be lost. A few minutes after they set out, Luna paused and tilted her head. She stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"Kuribon's friend told her we need to go this way," she then said, pointing backwards with her thumb.

"Kuribon's friend? Who is that?" Jesse frowned. "It could be someone tryin' to lead us in the wrong direction."

Luna shook her head. "Kuribon didn't say. She won't tell me. But she trusts them, she really thinks we should turn around."

"Well..." Jesse shrugged. "I guess it's the best we've got to go on."

Jesse gripped Leo and Luna’s hands tightly in his own. He refused to let them go alone just as strongly as Leo refused to stay home. Luna didn’t mind; she wasn’t keen on putting them in danger, but she was afraid to so this on her own. Jesse believed in her, though, in both of the twins. They were stronger than they realized.

Luna vanished just before their destination was in sight, but this was different. It wasn’t like what had happened to Chazz. She was in the spirit world, the one Ancient Fairy Dragon was in. She would be fine, but…

“I can duel the Dark Signer in her place, at least until she comes back,” Leo told Jesse. “I’m her brother, it’s my job to protect her.”

He hated leaving this up to the kids, but Jesse knew that if anyone could do this, they could. If he tried to involve himself any more than he already had, it’d probably just make things worse.

They were at their destination, but no one was there.

“This Dark Signer guy isn’t seriously late, is he?” Leo groaned, tapping his foot against he ground. “Let’s just get it over with already!”

“Neither of you are the Signer I seek,” a voice called out. Jesse quickly scanned the area; he still couldn’t see anyone. “You should leave, now, while you still can.”

“No way!” Leo yelled back. “I’m gonna beat you Dark Signers before Luna comes back. Then she won’t have to deal with any of you!”

“Very well, then. I can’t turn down such a willing sacrifice to the Immortals, now, can I?”

“You can’t decide I’ve lost before the duel’s even started!” Leo shot back, his voice rising.

Jesse really, really hated that the kids had to be involved in this.

Finally, a figure stepped out of the shadows. As it came into view, Jesse realized it must be the Dark Signer they were looking for. But once they were close enough to duel Leo, his heart simultaneously felt frozen and like t was exploding.

It couldn’t be.

The person standing ahead of them had to be Jaden Yuki. He didn't look quite the same, of course: his eyes were considerably darker, red wing-like marks had appeared on his cheeks, and he was dressed in a strange dark robe. But it was unmistakably Jaden.

The thought flashed through Jesse's mind again. The Warrior. No...

No, no, no. Tears began to slide down his cheeks without permission. No. He couldn't accept this. This couldn't be real! But the pieces began putting themselves together in his mind even through his denial. No. He knew by now how the Dark Signers reached their positions, and Jaden was a prime candidate. If Jaden had summoned an Earthbound Immortal back then, then Chazz had been sacrificed to... No!

* * *

It couldn't be.

Leo stared at the person standing across from him. He'd been expecting a Dark Signer; he was willing take any and all of them down if it meant he could protect Luna, if it meant he could do something to actually help. But instead, he saw Jaden. And yeah, Jaden looked a little different, but if Jaden was here...

"Jaden!" Leo didn't think he'd be able to keep the smile off his face for a long time. "You came back!" Jesse and Chazz must've been mistaken. Maybe Jaden hadn't lost that duel after all, or even if he had then he hadn't lost _everything_ , he just--

A hand placed itself on his shoulder. Leo looked up at Jesse, who was now gripping his shoulder tightly.

Jesse was _crying_.

Whatever emotion Leo was reading from his face, it was obvious that he wasn't happy.

He looked at Jaden again. If Jaden had reacted at all to his outburst, Leo must've missed it. Now, he was just activating his duel disk and waiting. Leo slid his deck into place and activated his own-- it used to be too big for him, but Jesse had managed to get a mechanic to fix it for him. (It was funny, now that mechanic was his good friend Yusei, another Signer). Leo sniffed loudly. Jesse was allowed to cry, there was nothing wrong with that, but if he was going to protect Luna, he couldn't cry, too. He had a job to do.

"If, uh," Leo bit his lip as he looked up at Jesse. "If this is really happening, then, uh, you might not want to stand right here during the duel."

Jesse blinked, and almost mechanically let go of Leo's shoulder and walked off to the side until he was a safe distance from the duel. The duel disks engaged into duel mode and Leo drew his starting hand; he was going first. Almost instantly, glowing light burst out of the ground around them. Were these supposed to be those 'Nazca Lines'?

Leo analyzed his starting hand, then sucked in a breath and looked up at Jaden again. If he was really dueling a Dark Signer here, then he needed to expect Dark Synchros and Earthbound Immortals, right? Though, he wasn't sure if Jaden was someone that would use an Earthbound Immortal, he'd always been more into Fusion Monsters than anything, but, but-- okay, Leo could admit that he hated this. It was okay that he hated having to duel against Jaden like this, that Jaden had somehow been turned into a Dark Signer, right? He had no idea how everything ended up like this, but he really wished it hadn't happened like this.

Jaden was- Jaden was so many things he aspired to be someday, and Jesse and Chazz were, too. Jaden had always gone out of his way to be nice to Leo, even though Leo didn't have any cool powers like anyone else, and he was always willing to give Leo more dueling pointers, too. Leo loved Jaden, he loved all three of them. Why did Jaden have to end up being their enemy? And not just that, Jaden was a really good duelist. Chazz and Jesse were too, but Jaden had dueling powers that most people lacked. How was Leo, mediocre duelist not even chosen by the Crimson Dragon, supposed to defeat _Jaden Yuki_?

"It's too late to back out now," Jaden called out. Apparently Leo's hesitation had gone on longer than he'd cared for. "If you're too scared to duel now, then you should have thought of that before."

"I'm not scared!" Leo shot back. Yeah, he wasn't. This wasn't fear, this was just realism. There was no way he was gonna win this one. But like it or not, he'd have to figure out a way to win anyhow. If he didn't win this duel, then Luna... He shook his head. "Jaden what are you doing? You wanted to stop the Dark Signers! You're not supposed to be one of them, you're supposed to be on our side!"

"'Sides' aren't important," Jaden answered dully. "Domino City's Light has been far too bright for far too long. I aim to correct that. It's nothing personal."

"But it is! All of this is personal!" Leo insisted. "You're my friend, we're practically family. If I have to duel you like this, then fine, but I don't want to do this! And if you really are Jaden, you shouldn't want to, either!"

As he spoke, Jaden winced. His expression was unreadable from where Leo was standing, but he held a hand up to his ahead, applying pressure to his temples. He closed his eyes. "Leo?" His voice was small all of the sudden, a pained edge to it.

"Jaden?"

"I'm so sorry, Leo." Jaden's eyes remained closed. He was talking a little faster now. "I should've known better. This isn't the first time I let my goals cloud my judgement. This isn't the first time I let myself get turned against my friends. I don't want to do this, either, but--"

In what Leo could only describe as Jaden cutting himself off, he opened his eyes and shot Leo a cruel smile, his hand falling back fo his side.

"Jaden Yuki doesn't get a choice in this anymore," the Dark Signer went on coldly. "He knows that better than anyone. You may not be a Signer, but the Netherworld appreciates your sacrifice nonetheless."

* * *

Jesse folded his arms across his chest.

The duel unfolding in front of him was in full swing by now. Leo kept trying to talk to talk to Jaden, reason with him, but the self-proclaimed Emissary of the Netherworld possessing Jaden wasn't having any of it. It was Leo's turn right now. He'd just taken control of Jaden's Elemental Hero Neos from the graveyard and was giving Contact Fusion a shot to fuse it with Power Tool Dragon. It didn't appear to be working, but Leo didn't look too upset about it. This still left him with two powerful monsters on his side of the field, and on Jaden's side, face-downs he hadn't been using since the duel truly started.

Jesse pressed his lips together, dug his right foot into the ground. As Jaden's life points dwindled closer and closer to zero, and he did almost nothing to stop it, he was forced to accept that something here wasn't right. Jaden urgently played a Draining Shield, and Jesse was then able to put his finger on the issue.

The Emissary of the Netherworld trying to force Jaden to put everything he had into this duel didn't have full control. Jaden was fighting back against it, and he was trying to throw the duel for Leo.

That was...that was good? They needed to win this duel against Jaden. They needed to defeat all the Dark Signers so that tehy could save Domino City. Which was good. But...but Jesse had seen how the last duel with a Dark Signer ended. He knew these were Shadow Duels, where the loser lost their soul. Jesse certainly wasn't saying he wanted Leo to lose his soul, not at all, quite the opposite actually. But if Jaden was throwing the match, then he'd lose, and that would mean...

Damn it. One of Jesse's hands closed into a fist. Was it really going to be like this? Was fate really going to give Jaden back, only to take him away again?

A bright light next to Leo distracted him from his thoughts. The light dulled to reveal Luna, smiling; she'd been successful in her quest in the spirit world, it seemed. She took one look at Jaden, though, and her smile immediately turned into a frown.

"I guess I figued out why Kuribon wouldn't tell me who her friend was," she mumbled. "It must've been Winged Kuriboh."

At that, she insisted on joining in the duel on Leo's side. Jaden gave no objections; in fact, on his next turn, he played a card effect that required him to send a monster in his Extra Deck to his graveyard. Jesse definitely knew what he was up to and this whole thing was making him antsy. He needed this duel to be over, but it couldn't end, because any outcome to this duel wouldn't be good. When Luna used an effect to summon Ancient Fairy Dragon from Jaden's graveyard, Jesse couldn't even be surprised. If Jaden really was trying, he never would've sent Ancient Fairy Dragon to his graveyard, or even included her in his deck. His deck barely had any uses for her at all.

"Ancient Fairy Dragon, attack!" Luna shouted. With a roar, Ancient Fairy Dragon made a direct hit, and Jaden's life points depleted to zero.

Jesse began to rush towards Jaden immediately. The twins did the same, and got to him first. Leo tried to give Jaden back the Elemental Hero Neos he took control of during the duel, but Jaden waved him off.

“Keep ‘em,” Jaden mumbled. “Thanks for beating me. You’re both gonna be great someday, way better than I ended up being.”

Jesse slowed down as he got close. Once Jaden heard his footsteps, he looked up before throwing something at Jesse’s feet. A card. Yubel’s card. Her duel spirit would meet the same fate as Jaden, but…

“Take care of her for me.” A tear fell down Jaden’s cheek. Tears were freely streaming from Jesse’s own eyes now, falling dangerously close to Yubel’s card, but never quite close enough to make contact. “I guess I’m still not strong enough to control my own darkness, huh?” Jaden let out a choked laugh. “I’m so sorry, about everything. Stay safe, and keep them safe, too.”

Words failing him, Jesse nodded.

Jaden raised his arm and pointed at Jesse with two fingers, in his usual salute after a duel ended. “Well…that’s game.”

Jesse, Leo, and Luna were forced to watch as Jaden crumbled into dust and disappeared right in front of him.

Jesse rubbed at his eyes before picking Yubel’s card up from the ground. “…That’s game,” he choked out in a whisper.


	2. Chapter 2 (Epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When she entered the kitchen, Jaden was standing there, chugging a mug of hot chocolate that was getting a little too cool. His eyes darted around. Luna was still standing in the kitchen’s entrance, and there was no other way out. Jaden's mug was now empty, but he didn’t move the mug from his mouth.
> 
> “Hey,” Luna said. She still didn’t move.
> 
> “Yo!” Jaden said through the mug, a little too loudly.
> 
> The two of them stared at each other. Jaden slowly put his mug down on the counter next to him. Silence hung in the room. She should just say something, she should just,
> 
> “I’m sorry,” Jaden and Luna blurted out at the same time.
> 
> (It's over, but life goes on. The gang tries to deal with the aftermath.)

When the Dark Signers were defeated, Jesse Anderson went home alone.

They won, the Signers won, but Chazz and Jaden were still gone. Jesse still went home to their dark, lonely apartment. He’d stayed with Leo and Luna for awhile after Chazz and Jaden were gone at first, but the twins were handling the situation a little better now and Jesse had imposed himself for long enough. He’d check on them in the morning.

Yubel’s card sat heavy in his pocket as he entered the apartment. After Jaden had been defeated, he’d given the card to Jesse. As far as Jesse could tell, Yubel’s duel spirit was gone, which made since since Yubel and Jaden had fused together. Still, he kept the card on him at all times. He couldn’t bring himself to add it to his deck, but it was all he had left of them now.

Silently, he cursed himself. He knew Jaden tried to take everything on by himself these days. He should’ve kept a better eye on Jaden, he should’ve pushed Chazz out of the way of the Nazca Lines…

Somehow he managed to get himself to change into pajamas (“Bug off I’m sleeping”, the shirt claimed) and collapsed into bed. Screams echoed in his dreams.

He didn't know what was worse, being awake, or dealing with his dreams. Life went on like that for far too long.

Chazz was the first to return.

He didn’t show up right away. But when he came back, he acted like he’d never been gone. Jesse walked out of the kitchen, nibbling on a banana for breakfast, and Chazz walked in and demanded to know how Jesse disappeared when they were walking home together.

Jesse didn’t have any words to respond with. He dropped his banana, ran forward and wrapped Chazz in a tight hug. Chazz insisted he didn’t do hugs, what was Jesse doing, but his memory of what happened to him slowly returned. He finally accepted the hug, and Jesse managed to fill him in on what he missed.

They took a break from everything and didn’t leave each others’ sides for the next few days.

Not too long after that, Jaden returned, too. He walked into the apartment quietly, not trying to draw too much attention to himself, but Jesse and Chazz saw him almost immediately.

“It’s about time you made it back here, slacker,” Chazz said, though a crack in his voice threatened to betray his actual feelings. He didn’t need to say it to either of then, they already knew.

Jesse grabbed Jaden in a hug equally as tight as the one he gave Chazz. Tears filled his eyes, his hands shook, as Jaden hugged him back.

Jaden remembered everything clearly.

“Don’t blame yourself,” Jaden whispered to him. “It’s my fault, not yours. You know how I get when someone’s in danger. You probably couldn’t have stopped me if you tried.

“How did you…” Jesse trailed off.

“You’ve held onto Yubel’s card this entire time, haven’t you?” Jaden smiled sadly. “It’s still Yubel’s card, you know. We could still see you and hear you, even after we… There’s no way we couldn’t know.”

* * *

Ever since Jaden came back, he’d been avoiding Leo and Luna. Luna was sure of it.

“Come on, you’re just being paranoid,” Leo muttered. His face was buried in a math worksheet, as if looking at it the right way would reveal all the answers. “He’s not avoiding us. He wouldn’t do that.”

“No, he is,” Luna argued. Needles flew subconsciously in her hands; she’d started to try out knitting a few weeks ago, but she still was undecided on whether she liked it. She was making a….potholder? She was just practicing stitches more than anything. “You weren’t paying attention yesterday. It was like, he seemed free most of the day, you know? But the second Jesse mentioned possibly coming over here, something came up and he was busy all day.”

“Maybe he isn’t, maybe he is,” Leo conceded with a shrug. “But you’ve been avoiding him, too.”

“Have not.”

“Yesterday when we were over at their apartment, you conveniently got hungry when Jaden stopped by and spent like twenty minutes hiding in the kitchen,” Leo said.

Luna opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her brother had a point. She didn’t want to admit it, but…

She really had no idea how to face Jaden now, or what to say to him. Neither she nor Leo were about to say it out loud, but they both knew Leo was doing the same thing, feeling the same way, too.

Jaden and Chazz were both back now, and Luna was glad for it, truly. Not just for Jesse’s sake; the two of them were very important to him, and he hadn’t been himself since they both disappeared. Jaden meant a lot to Luna, too. He was a great friend, a great caretaker, and he’d taught her and her brother so much. And he cared about the two of them, too, she could tell. And they…they killed him.

It wasn’t like there’d been another choice. It wasn’t like they’d wanted to. He’d become a Dark Signer, they would’ve died if he hadn’t, he was going to pull everything into darkness with him!

But all Luna could think about was how she left him to the shadows, let the shadows consume him, how their duel became his demise.

They hadn’t known then that he would come back…

“You need to talk to him.” Leo grabbed her by the shoulder. Luna hadn’t even noticed that she’d started shaking, or the tears stinging her eyes. “This isn’t doing you any good. I know it’s hard now, but you’ll feel better if you say something.”

Luna took a deep breath and nodded. She didn’t want to, but she should. She should. She should just… She blinked her tears away, took another deep breath, and stood up.

When she entered the kitchen, Jaden was standing there, chugging a mug of hot chocolate that was getting a little too cool. His eyes darted around. Luna was still standing in the kitchen’s entrance, and there was no other way out. Jaden's mug was now empty, but he didn’t move the mug from his mouth.

“Hey,” Luna said. She still didn’t move.

“Yo!” Jaden said through the mug, a little too loudly.

The two of them stared at each other. Jaden slowly put his mug down on the counter next to him. Silence hung in the room. She should just say something, she should just,

“I’m sorry,” Jaden and Luna blurted out at the same time. They both blinked, then frowned, almost mirroring each other. Silence filled the room once more. When Jaden didn’t elaborate, Luna went back into her apology.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “We had to win that duel, I know we did. We knew what would happen if we lost. But…we knew what would happen if we won, too. You…you were gone, and it was our fault. You shouldn’t have had to….”

She didn’t know what to say anymore. She needed to keep talking, she couldn’t stop, because nothing she could say could ever be enough. But nothing would make up for her actions, _their_ actions, and nothing she was saying sounded right. She was struggling to find the words at all.

Jaden shook his head. “If you think I’m mad at you, I promise I’m not. Honestly, I’m glad that duel ended the way it did. I wanted you guys to win, really. My time was up, anyway, that’s part of…being what I was.” He looked away. “Don’t blame yourself for that. It’s not your fault at all. Even if I didn’t come back, it was for the best.”

For the third time in as many minutes, the room threatened to fall back into an awkward silence. It nearly did, until Winged Kuriboh appeared to say something to Jaden, its expression nonplussed. Jaden sighed.

“Yeah, you’re right, I know,” he said. Winged Kuriboh made a content sound and disappeared. Jaden sighed again. “I’m sorry. That whole situation was…bad. I didn’t want to become a Dark Signer. The Earthbound Immortals just…I don’t know. It was bad. I needed to be stopped. But that shouldn't have been your responsibility.

“You and your brother are wonderful. I’m so glad you won that duel. But you never should’ve been put in that situation in the first place. I was terrified that entire duel of what would happen if I won. I didn’t want to do that to anyone, least of all you. And I knew it’d be hard for you, too, because of the bonds we share. It was…it was bad. You never should’ve had to go through that. I hurt you both and it could’ve been so much worse, and I’m so sorry…”

His voice cracked at the end. As he spoke, he gripped at the counter with one of his hands; that hand had now started to shake as it held tightly onto the counter. He couldn't bring himself to look at her.

Luna took a step forward and placed her hand on the counter, over his.

“You didn’t mean for any of it to happen,” she told him. “And the whole time, you were doing your best to fix everything, even against unbeatable odds. Thanks to you, I got Ancient Fairy Dragon back, and Leo and I went on to fight another day. It wasn’t your fault. We never blamed you for it. And it doesn’t matter what could’ve happened, because it didn’t.”

“You kids are amazing, you know that?” Jaden mumbled. “We love you, all of us do. If anyone deserves to be Signers, it’s you two.”

“I’m just glad you and Chazz came back.” Luna sniffed, fighting back tears. “We thought you were gone for good, and…and Jesse kept trying to cheer us up the whole time, and…and even if he kept pretending he was okay, he was just as sad as we were and we didn’t know how to help him…”

“Just being there helped him,” Jaden promised. He pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay. It’s over.”

“It’s over,” Luna agreed.

* * *

“Don’t you dare think of blaming yourself for what happened to me.”

“Huh?” Jesse blinked, staring at Chazz over the table. This was completely out of the blue. Neither of them had said anything for awhile now, they’d been just throwing their cards on the table, playing their game in silence.

“You know what I mean,” Chazz said as he slapped a blue seven down onto the pile. “The whole Earthbound Immortals thing.”

“Oh.” Jesse frowned down at the cards in his hand. What would be better, switching colors to get rid of more points or getting rid of all his blue cards? “Did I, uh…say something? Or, uh…” He placed a green seven onto the pile.

“No. Not to me, anyway.” Chazz had clearly been planning on playing a specific card, but that plan appeared ruined with the abrupt change in color. He frowned. “Heard you blame yourself for what happened to the other slacker, though. You two are way too alike, he still blames himself for our last year of school. But I know you well enough by now to know you’d find a way to blame yourself for this, too.”

He slapped a green reverse onto the pile. Good for getting rid of points, but otherwise meaningless in this two-player match. Then again, Jesse reflected, Uno wasn’t really optimized for two players. He put down a green skip, then a four.

“I reckon I should hope you do,” he mumbled eventually, analyzing his hand.

Jesse really should’ve seen this coming. He and Chazz knew most of each others’ insecurities by now, they’d talked each other through it more than enough. They’d seen each other wake up from the nightmares more than enough, though they never approached that particular topic, not yet. They knew when to press each other and when to back off. It looked like Chazz had decided to press on, try to help Jesse out of the spiral he'd found homself in. Jesse wasn’t sure he wanted it. Probably needed it, though.

“You disappeared right there, right in front of me,” Jesse told him. “I should’ve done something. Pulled you to safety, or…”

Chazz shook his head. “Look, you’re a dork, but I’ll admit you’ve done some pretty amazing things. You have a dragon that can move people between dimensions. You’ve won all kinds of dueling tournaments. You’re always there to save our hides when we need you. You don’t just see duel spirits, you surround yourself with cool ones you actually like.”

Something deep in Jesse wanted to protest that Jaden could do all of these things both better and without the help of a giant dragon. That wasn’t the conversation they were having, though. He kept his mouth shut.

“But of all the cool things you’ve done and keep doing,” Chazz went on, “I’ve never expected you to be able to see into the future. There’s no way you could’ve done anything in time to change what happened.”

Jesse scratched an itch on his head. “I guess I was lucky I didn’t become a sacrifice for those things myself,” he said.

“And I’m glad you weren’t,” Chazz told him. “You were still needed here.” There was an unspoken, _More than I was_ , that Jesse caught but didn’t bring attention to. Not now. “It happened. And there’s nothing you could’ve done about it. So stop blaming yourself for everything already. It worked out.” He put a wild card down on the pile, quietly declaring the color to be green.

Jesse sighed. “I guess I can try.”

* * *

Jaden Yuki still found himself haunted by the Dark Signer situation. That, in itself, wasn’t that surprising.

He’d been there before. The similarities, as well as the differences, to what happened in Dark World were almost eerie. The experience helped him fight back before his defeat, but didn’t do him much good now with getting over it.

The nightmares and flashbacks came at the same pace, but now they were mixed. He didn’t care for this new wave of unpredictability, but he knew how to deal with this. He could deal with it.

(The fact that he could handle it didn’t mean that it no longer hurt him. He still felt guilty, horrible, about everything. But he also wanted to be a functional human being. Yubel joked softly in his head that even with that, he had a ways to go. They were ignored.)

He’d lost a duel, died, but he could deal with it. Chazz had been gone again because of him, but he could deal with it. Jesse had been left all alone again, but he could deal with it. Leo and Luna, far too young for any of this, had nearly died because of him, but he could deal with it. He hated every single part of it, but he could deal.

That wasn’t what was bothering him at the moment, not primarily. It was something altogether, before anyone else had gotten hurt because of him.

As the Supreme King, wielder of the Darkness of Justice, Jaden had probably already been a prime candidate for the Earthbound Immortals. They’d probably been eager to take him. But part of that process required that he had something to keep him going. For many of the Dark Signers, that had been revenge. Jaden had had his own reasons. And that’s what bothered him.

He remembered it all way too clearly. What pulled him into the Immortals’ grasp hadn’t been the life he’d started to build here, or his friends. Instead, his last thoughts had been of the strong hold light had on this city. His last thoughts had been of darkness. His last thoughts had been of maintaining balance between the two, and not letting light win out.

Did everyone else really mean so little to him? Had he really learned nothing in his years at Duel Academy?

“Is that really all I care about?” Jaden mumbled aloud. Part of him was waiting for Yubel to give their two cents, but they were silent. Huh. Probably for the best; Jaden didn’t really want to deal with himself right now either.

“Is what all you care about?” someone asked nearby. Jaden cursed under his breath. He hadn’t been paying attention, hadn’t realized he’d paced into the kitchen, where Leo was grabbing a banana, hadn’t even realized he said anything out loud.

This was not a conversation he wanted fo have. But he couldn’t…shouldn’t really back out now, and he wasn’t about to insult Leo with a lie or by brushing him off.

 _Talk about it_ , Yubel encouraged, _it could help_.

In Jaden’s moment of distraction, his hand, seizing a mind of its own, grabbed an apple and he started eating it. Dammit, Yubel.

“You know how Dark Signers are made, right?” Jaden asked, mouth still full of apple. He wasn’t sure the question was intelligible at all, but Leo nodded.

“Most of them seemed driven by…revenge,” Leo said, carefully peeling his banana. He stopped about halfway through, looking like he was trying to stare a hole into the banana. “You didn’t seem like you were, though. You kept talking about…correcting something with light, or something? It was weird.”

Jaden frowned. “Yeah, for most of ‘em, it was revenge. But I’m not really holding onto any grudges or anything.” He took another bite of his apple. The last thing someone as young as Leo needed in their life was him, talking about his own death, but here they were. “As the shadows approached me, I kept thinking about why I couldn’t die there. And my last thoughts were about balancing light and darkness, maintaining it.”

“Uh-huh. Right. You have that darkness thing going on,” Leo said. Jaden stared at his apple. Given that Leo’s sister (and probably Leo himself, to some degree) was a strong force of light, that was probably weird for Leo to think about. But they had a good light, and Jaden’s Darkness was…usually good, so maybe not. At the moment, Jaden couldn’t remember how much he’d told Leo about his ‘darkness thing’. He had no idea how much Leo remembered. It seemed to be enough.

Leo appeared to be waiting for him to say more, so Jaden kept talking. “…And, the last thought I had was about that. I wasn’t thinking about you and Luna. Or about Jesse and Chazz. Or about any of my friends. Just…the balance.”

“Well, it’s like your job, isn’t it?” Leo asked him. “That destructive Light keeps showing up and you have to deal with it, right? You spend so much time on that, it’s bound to be on your mind a lot.”

It didn’t look like he was getting it. “Shouldn’t I have been thinking about all of the people I care about, though?” Jaden demanded, attempting to glare his apple into nonexistence. Yubel pointed out that they probably could, but they’d rather he finish eating first. That commentary didn’t really help, but it didn’t make him feel any worse, either. “I mean, isn’t that what most people do? If I was so busy thinking about other things, does that mean I don’t care about anyone as much as I thought I do?”

“If you didn’t care, you probably wouldn’t be this worried about it,” Leo pointed out. Finally, he took a bite of his banana. It was a whole fruit party up in here. Yubel couldn’t be happier. Jaden wasn’t super interested in their input.

“But…” Jaden couldn’t find the words, but he was still very much worried.

Leo sighed. “Okay. You know that you matter a lot to us, right?”

“Right.”

“I _know_ we matter a lot to you. So if you don’t feel like you can trust yourself, or like you don’t know how you feel, you can trust me, okay? I know,” Leo finished.

“No doubts in your mind about that?” Jaden pressed.

“Nope,” Leo answered. At that, he put his entire banana in the garbage, despite only eating a bite or two of it.

“Well, I know I can trust you, so…I’ll try to believe it. Thanks.

* * *

It did not take someone as cool as Chazz Princeton to know that it was too hot to sleep.

His clothes were sticking to his body through a thick layer of sweat. He couldn’t feel any of the cool air the fan was blowing directly at him. It was way too hot, way too humid, to try to accomplish anything, and yet, it was still too hot and humid to do nothing.

(If he was being honest with himself, Chazz was having some issues with sleeping regardless these days. But that didn’t change how it was way too humid.)

That’s how Chazz found himself in bed, reading a book. If he couldn’t sleep as he was, he’d just tired his brain out until he couldn’t stay awake anymore. As his eyes scanned over a line, he snorted. These characters really thought this one guy was clever because he used some kind of magical invisible ink. Chazz could do that too, you know. But he wouldn’t, because anything written by the Chazz was so important that everyone should see it.

Wow, he was tired. Still not tired enough, apparently.

This insomnia, however, soon became a blessing in disguise. As Chazz skimmed through another pointless song, a voice whispered in his ear. He put down his book immediately. He’d gotten the signal, which meant there was no time to waste.

A few days ago, Chazz planted a certain Ojama Blue near the front door. Ojama Blue, unlike his other Ojama associates, knew how to keep his mouth shut and stay under the radar. And that’s exactly what Chazz needed. This was a solo mission, Chazz only, and he couldn’t risk the other Ojamas blabbing about this.

Ojama Blue quietly informed him there was still time. The target was still lingering around, getting prepared. At that, Chazz made his move, he quietly got up, silently left the bedroom, and made his way to the front door. He stopped in front of it, crossed his arms, and waited. It wouldn’t be much longer now, Ojama Blue assured him. Chazz glanced at the time. 3 am... It was about the time he expected for this to happen, but he still couldn't believe it was so late.

Jesse hadn’t woken up as Chazz embarked on his mission. That was good. The last thing Jesse needed right now was to deal with this. Chazz could fly this one alone.

He soon saw his target. The target was moving impossibly silent, which was to be expected. That’s why Chazz had set up Ojama Blue as a lookout, after all. He had a few other quiet duel spirits watching out in other locations for good measure; he couldn’t hear his target, but he knew one of them would see them. Almost too late, the target stopped in front of him. Then they took a step back.

“Chazz?” Jaden asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He had a bag over his shoulder, probably filled with whatever he'd deemed necessary, which couldn't be much, knowing him. Pharoah's head stuck out of the top of the bag. The cat was asleep, snoring softly.

“You didn’t think you could just leave without saying anything, did you?” Chazz countered, raising an eyebrow. His own voice was even quieter than Jaden’s; neither of them wanted to involve anyone else.

“You know that just standing in front of a door won’t stop me from leaving,” Jaden reminded him. “I can just go whenever I want.”

“Yeah, but this way I can at least talk to you first,” Chazz said. “Someone needs to try to convince you to stay here.”

Jaden yawned, then ran a hand down his face. “The Light of Destruction doesn’t take breaks, especially not because I went evil for a minute, again. It needs to be stopped, and it’s my job to-“

“You’re running away,” Chazz interrupted him, still not moving away from the door.

“No I’m not, this is important!” Jaden protested.

“Okay, then what’s the Light doing? Where is this emergency located? How bad is the situation?”

Jaden, for once, seemed to be at loss for words. Chazz smirked. Jaden’s hands rose up in the air, surrendering.

“Okay, the Light hasn’t made it’s move…yet,” Jaden admitted. “But I’m not running away. Not like you think. This is what’s best for all of us.”

"You think abandoning everyone here after we thought we lost you for good is best for everyone." Chazz lifted his chin. "That's the stupidest thing I've heard in awhile, and I have to listen to Ojamas all day. No offense, Ojama Blue."

"When you put it like that, but it's not-- No." Jaden brought a hand up to his temples and took a deep breath. "You're looking at it all wrong. I'm not _running away_ , and I'm not trying to _abandon anyone_."

"Enlighten me, then," Chazz offered.

"Instead of paying attention to the part where I died, look at the rest of what happened," Jaden told him. Chazz rolled his eyes, but let him continue. "I acted on impulse and got myself turned into a _Dark Signer_. You know, the bad guys everyone was trying to beat. My resurrection _killed you_. I broke a promise to a really powerful duel spirit. I let darkness take over a dimension of the spirit world that should be filled with light. I sealed away Luna's Signer Dragon, and tried to use it against her. I got into a _shadow duel_ with _Leo and Luna_ , who aren't even _teenagers_ yet. During that duel, I was possessed by an _emissary of the Netherworld_ that tried to force me to win that duel at all costs. I almost won that duel, and almost _killed the twins_. And that's just the most recent incident. That doesn't even count everything with the Sacred Beasts, the Society of Light, all the dimension hopping, Dark World, Nightshroud..."

"Yeah." Chazz rested his hands on his hips. "I'm assuming you have a point with all this."

"How much weird stuff happened at Duel Academy before I started going there?" Jaden demanded. "Don't answer, because I've looked it up, and the answer is 'none'. Then the second I start going there, we got into life or death situations at least once every year. Every single time, I was part of someone's plot to take over the world or destroy it or whatever everyone wanted. The Sacred Beasts wanted my Duel Energy, the Light tried to make me one of the first members of the Society of Light, Yubel wanted to fuse all the dimensions so I could rule them all with them, and my actions helped bring Nightshroud back. And then I became a Dark Signer. I always attract trouble wherever I go. And whenever I do, other people get dragged into it and they get hurt because of me. If I'm not here, you all stay safe."

"Do you really think we _want_ that? Do you really think we want you facing everything alone?" Chazz asked. "Especially when you have friends willing to watch your back, willing to fight with you?"

"I don't want to risk _losing_ you!" Jaden shot back.

"We don't want to lose _you_ either!"

Jaden took a step backward, took another deep breath. Chazz gritted his teeth. This slacker just refused to realize he didn't have to do everything alone.

"I'll stick around awhile longer," Jaden mumbled. "It's probably bad timing to leave now. I don't want to hurt you guys more than I already have. But I can't stick around forever, it's better that way."

Without another word, before Chazz could get a word in, Jaden walked off. He ended up in the bathroom, probably putting all his stuff away. A couple of minutes later, Chazz stormed off to go back to bed. Maybe Jesse should've been awake for this after all. Clearly Chazz wasn't the right person for this conversation, not at 3 in the morning anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a very busy and stressful semester, I'm about to have a still somewhat busy summer semester, and I'm very, very tired. So this one probably isn't as up to snuff as I'd like. But that's okay. I hope you enjoyed nonetheless.


End file.
